Instructor Room No. Office Hours Email Telephone 8456 MECO 111 Principles of Microeconomics Fall Semester 2017 Ghazal Zulfiqar 327, 3 rd Floor SDSB Building Monday, Wednesday and Thursday 10am to Noon ghazal.zulfiqar@lums.edu.pk Secretary Muhammad Rehman (Ext. 5310) TA Office Hours Course URL (if any) TBA suraj.lums.edu.pk/~ro/ COURSE BASICS Credit Hours 3 Lecture(s) Nbr of Lec(s) Per Week 2 Duration 75 minutes Recitation/Lab (per week) Nbr of Lec(s) Per Week Duration Tutorial (per week) Nbr of Lec(s) Per Week Duration COURSE DISTRIBUTION Core Elective Open for Student Category Close for Student Category Yes COURSE DESCRIPTION This course teaches basic microeconomic concepts and their implications for individuals and firms. Particular attention will be paid to understanding the decision making process of households, business firms and government, and consequent allocation of resource and price determination under different market structures. Market equilibrium conditions will be discussed in the short run and the long run under various market models. This course is meant to foster critical evaluation of standard economic concepts such as scarcity and choice, demand and supply, cost and productions, government intervention & market failure, price mechanism, the efficient allocation of scarce resources and concludes with game theory. COURSE PREREQUISITE (S) None
LEARNING OUTCOMES Upon completion of the course students would: 1. Have developed an understanding of basic microeconomic concepts and their application to real world situations. 2. Be able to identify core microeconomic issues related to business firms and their behavior under different market conditions. 3. To comprehend the benefits of market efficiency in resource allocation. UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAM LEARNING GOALS & OBJECTIVES General Learning Goals & Objectives Goal 1 Effective Written and Oral Communication Objective: Students will demonstrate effective writing and oral communication skills Goal 2 Ethical Understanding and Reasoning Objective: Students will demonstrate that they are able to identify and address ethical issues in an organizational context. Goal 3 Analytical Thinking and Problem Solving Skills Objective: Students will demonstrate that they are able to identify key problems and generate viable solutions. Goal 4 Application of Information Technology Objective: Students will demonstrate that they are able to use current technologies in business and management context. Goal 5 Teamwork in Diverse and Multicultural Environments Objective: Students will demonstrate that they are able to work effectively in diverse environments. Goal 6 Understanding Organizational Ecosystems Objective: Students will demonstrate that they have an understanding of Economic, Political, Regulatory, Legal, Technological, and Social environment of organizations. Major Specific Learning Goals & Objectives Goal 7 (a) Program Specific Knowledge and Understanding Objective: Students will demonstrate knowledge of key business disciplines and how they interact including application to real world situations. Goal 7 (b) Understanding the science behind the decision making process (for MGS Majors) Objective: Students will demonstrate ability to analyze a business problem, design and apply appropriate decision support tools, interpret results and make meaningful recommendations to support the decisionmaker Indicate below how the course learning objectives specifically relate to any program learning goals and objectives. PROGRAM LEARNING GOALS AND OBJECTIVES Goal 1 Effective Written and Oral Communication Goal 2 Ethical Understanding and Reasoning COURSE LEARNING OBJECTIVES COURSE ASSESSMENT ITEM
Goal 3 Analytical Thinking and Problem Solving Skills Goal 4 Application of Information Technology Goal 5 Teamwork in Diverse and Multicultural Environments Goal 6 Understanding Organizational Ecosystems Goal 7 (a) Program Specific Knowledge and Understanding Yes, students should be able to demonstrate knowledge of the economic environment of organizations Goal 7 (b) Understanding the science behind the decision making process GRADING BREAKUP AND POLICY Attendance: 5% CP: 5% Quiz(s): 20% Assignments 10% Midterm Examination: 30% Final Examination: 30% Attendance If you are late by 5 minutes you will be marked absent. Regular attendance and class participation is important. There will be no penalty for the first 3 absences. After which there will be a 1% reduction in your grade for up to five absences. After 5 absences there will be a 2% reduction in your grade for each additional absence. After 8 absences your possibility for continuing the course will be reconsidered. Assignments & Quizzes 6 quizzes (n 2 policy) 2 3 written assignments to be completed independently. Examinations: Both exams will be a combination of multiple choice, T/F and short descriptive questions. CELL PHONES, LATPTOPS AND OTHER ELECTRONICS SHOULD BE TURNED OFF DURING CLASS. ABSOLUTELY NO TEXTING OR INTERNET BROWSING DURING CLASS.
EXAMINATION DETAIL Midterm Exam Yes/No: Yes Combine Separate: Duration: Preferred Date: Exam Specifications: Final Exam Yes/No: Yes Combine Separate: Duration: Exam Specifications: COURSE OVERVIEW LECTURE 1 2 TOPICS Introduction to Microeconomics RECOMMENDED READINGS Chapter 1 OBJECTIVES/ APPLICATION Introduction to basic microeconomic concepts, including markets and real versus nominal prices, circular flow diagram and the production possibilities frontier. 3 4 Demand and Supply Chapter 2 Introduction to the concepts of demand and supply, factors affecting them and market equilibrium. 5 6 Elasticity of Demand and Supply Chapter 2 Explanation of elasticity of demand and supply, a discussion of the factors affecting them. 7 8 9 10 11 12 Consumer Choice Chapter 3 An examination of consumer preferences, their budget constraints and the concept of marginal utility. Individual and Market Demand Chapter 4 An introduction to income and substitution effects and to consumer surplus. Production Costs Chapter 6 & 7 Analysis of the relationship between total, average and marginal costs of production. A discussion on the short and long term costs for firms. 13 14 Profit Maximization & Perfect Competition Chapter 8 An analysis of the conditions determining perfect competition, profit maximizing output, short and long run supply curves, individual and market demand curves.
15 Review Session 16 Midterm Exam 17 18 Analysis of Competitive Markets Chapter 9 Introduction to producers surplus, the concepts of market intervention, price ceiling and floors, and distortions of the free market. 19 21 Market Power: Monopoly Chapter 10 & 11 A discussion of price determination and output decisions under monopoly. Introduction to price discrimination in its various forms. 22 23 24 25 26 27 Monopolistic Competition Chapter 12 A discussion on monopolistic competition including the output decision, product differentiation and innovation. Oligopoly Chapter 12 An analysis of marginal cost and marginal revenue under oligopoly. Game Theory Chapter 13 A brief Introduction to game theory and strategic behavior, including dominant strategy and Nash Equilibrium. 28 Review TEXTBOOK(S)/SUPPLEMENTARY READINGS Textbook: Microeconomics by Robert S. Pindyk, Daniel L. Rubinfeld and Prem L. Mehta (8 th Edition)